


Like A Maze (There’s No Exit!)

by exohousewarming, x_yehet_pcy



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: (very slight) Magical Realism (blink and you’ll miss it), Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-18
Updated: 2017-09-18
Packaged: 2018-12-31 06:52:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12126924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exohousewarming/pseuds/exohousewarming, https://archiveofourown.org/users/x_yehet_pcy/pseuds/x_yehet_pcy
Summary: Prompt number:#134Side Pairings (if any):very brief mentions of DO/Kai, Baekhyun/Lay, Xiumin/ChenWarnings:none~Summary:Sehun doesn’t want to room alone, after all.





	Like A Maze (There’s No Exit!)

**Author's Note:**

> **Author Note:** im kinda, sorta, maybe a little proud of this fic?? I love domestic aus so much but like what is this is this even domestic hahaha. I hope this isnt lacking haha?? I wrote this inspired by a dorm building i used to frequent here so. yeah?? Happy happy!!! To the mods thank u so much for being kind to me!! :(( n To the prompter thank u so much for the idea and i hope u like it!  >3< i lov sechan

****“You’re the one who wanted to room alone, Sehunnie.”

Kyungsoo is right. That is, in fact, true. But can’t Sehun express his loneliness without being berated like he’s a kid that wanted a toy so bad but hated it as soon as he got it?

Can’t he want someone bringing him food when he’s too busy cramming a paper to get his own? Can’t he want someone to talk to when he gets take-out bubble tea to drink at home? Can’t he want someone to give him pats on his head or rubs on his back or cuddles when he’s too tired? Can’t he want someone to wake up to in the mornings?

Sehun sighs and looks at Kyungsoo. He’s stocking up his and Jongin’s mini fridge and he even has those cute chocolate snacks that Jongin probably made googly eyes at for him to buy. Sehun is jealous. He shouldn’t be.

Sehun sighs again when he checks his phone. Jongdae’s just texted him saying he can’t meet tomorrow after all because he’ll be staying in with Minseok for some lame sleepover and who-knows-what-genre-even they watch together movie marathon. Sehun is jealous. He shouldn’t be.

He swears to god if one more of his friends comes up all lovey-dovey and domestic to him he’s going to--

“Hey guys!” Great, it’s Baekhyun. “You wanna join Yixing and me?” And there’s Yixing, too. “We’re gonna decorate our room with these unicorn decals we got online--” Okay, maybe for once, Sehun isn’t jealous. He doesn’t really like unicorns. He tunes the oncoming chatter out.

It is true Sehun wanted to room alone, because he wanted to dorm at the second floor (the elevator's been perpetually broken since freshman orientation and he’d rather not take stairs every morning and every night), and the second floor rooms have big solo beds that are comfortable but cheap! But it's been barely a month and he's already so lonely, and he just isn't the alone type of person, okay, and he’s realizing that now. He’d even prefer rooming with Junmyeon again, at this point, even if his brother had been too messy and couldn’t care less.

Fuck all that shit about _being alone but not lonely is just right and just okay_. Being alone makes him lonely. He hates being lonely.

He also hates college.

He also hates his friends, but they're pretty much all he's got. He wishes he could make more friends. He has these people who are almost-strangers to him, who have been his classmates in different classes for like, five semesters in a row. These are people he's never even thought to reach out to outside of class projects or note-borrowing. (At least he isn’t the one who borrows notes?)

Jongin and Kyungsoo and Minseok and Jongdae and Baekhyun and Yixing and, fine, even his brother Junmyeon, are all he really has that's been constant since his first year, when they all took a general education subject together-- and even now when they’re all separated into their own fields and programs, at least there's something solid there that he can't ever let go.

Maybe being surrounded by people who date all the time makes him lonely, too.

He hates being lonely.

It's almost time for bed, now, he realizes, when Baekhyun yawns and Yixing pats him on the head. Kyungsoo is also pre-packing lunches for him and Jongin for tomorrow. Minseok and Jongdae are probably on their second movie now.

Maybe he really should have roomed with Junmyeon-- but who knows if he brings his girlfriend over, now that Sehun has moved out?

He's okay being alone, he swears.

He just hates being lonely.

When he goes down two floors to get to his room, he opens the door, looks into the emptiness within it, sighs, and comes in.

He sighs again and plops himself down onto the bed. He's accidentally left his lava lamp on and it's probably going to overheat if he doesn't turn it off before sleeping. It’s a pretty old thing.

He stares at the exchanging colors of blue and silver and the bubbles moving inside, and absentmindedly, he wishes. _I don’t know why I’m suddenly wishing.. Maybe one day I can live with someone I like, too._

His eyelids are drooping and he’s suddenly sleepy, but his eyes widen when his lava lamp sizzles and sparks, then its light goes out and the liquids within it fall down to a still calm.

He’s gonna need a new one. Where the hell is he going to find a new one?

He sighs.

He hates being lonely.

  
\--

 

Sehun’s had dreams like this before. He lies in bed with someone who feels soft and warm. Sometimes it would feel like a pretty girl, even though he doesn’t see, like maybe the ones he used to date in high school but never had the chance to touch. Other times it would feel like a cute boy he can spoon in his arms and bury his face in the hair of.

Maybe Sehun’s had one too many weird dreams as manifestations of his loneliness. He’ll take what he can get, though. For now, he can dream.

He smiles and pushes his body back, snuggles against the warmth pressed into his back. The man-- it’s a man this time, he’s sure; it’s a broad and firm chest-- holds him tighter in response.

He can’t usually control what he does in dreams like this one, so right when he’s decided to turn around to hug his dream companion back, he freezes.

 _Is this.._ Not _a dream?_

Sehun, in fear of losing the momentary happiness he’s been granted for the time being, reluctantly opens his eyes. The sunlight suffuses through the cheap dorm curtains, and before he can even blink again to focus, something catches his eyes.

There, on his night stand, is his lava lamp, fully lit and completely functioning (whatever its actual function or use is). That itself is enough to freak him out, because he’s pretty sure he was still conscious enough when he’d watched it die last night.

What freaks him out even more, though, is the second lava lamp standing right beside his. It’s exactly the same as the one he owns, only his is blue and silver, and this one is blue and red. It’s working completely fine, too, and the blue and red and silver all look pretty together.

It freaks him out that he recognizes the view, in a weird, dream-like, nostalgic, distant type of way.

What freaks him out now, though, and is enough to wake him up fully, is when he realizes that he’s definitely conscious now and this isn’t a dream at all anymore.

There’s a stranger on his bed-- there’s a stranger on his bed _lying with him._ Sehun knows because he’s the biggest of his friends and all of them are perfectly contented rooming with their corresponding significant others.

Silently, he mourns the loss of that feeling of warmth and security that he’d gotten thinking this was just another one of his dreams. He’s gonna have to kick this creep out, and he’s gonna have to do it fast.

He carefully turns around in the stranger’s arms, coming face to face with someone his sleep-weighed mind can’t quite recognize.

His first impression… _Not a pretty sleeper._ The guy’s mouth is slightly open, drool escaping his lips and pooling onto a patch on Sehun’s pillow. He grimaces. The guy’s eyes are also twitchy and not fully-closed..? Sehun wonders if he can see anything like that asleep. His hair is a pastel rainbow, though, and it's so _so_ soft, and his breath smells like mint-- anyone who brushes their teeth right before bed is a respectable one in Sehun’s book. His skin is a little rough, too, pimple scars on the cheek that isn’t pressed into the pillow’s fabric--

His eyes are open now. His eyes are open now and stare back at Sehun’s. They’re wet from sleep and wide in surprise, and even though Sehun’s the one who owns the bed this stranger has been sleeping on, there’s an embarrassment he can’t fight off, feeling like he’s just got caught.

In a second, the stranger’s retracted all hold and contact with Sehun’s body, and he almost falls over when he jumps off the bed, pushes his back against a wall, raises his arms and hands in a  pretty apologetic pose, and starts trying to explain himself as the guilty party that he is.

“Sorry, oh my god, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fucking cuddle in your bed--” _That’s what you’re sorry for?_ “--I just needed a place to sleep for the night and Jongin said room 9-4 had a big bed--” The stranger wipes his drool off of his cheek with the back of his hand. “But when I saw it was occupied, I decided I’d just change my clothes and brush my teeth--” _They’re very pretty teeth._ “And said I’d sleep on the floor because I wouldn’t really mind it! But by the time I finished I was just so tired that I just fell.. There.. And slept…”

He trails off when his eyes catch something past Sehun, and Sehun turns around to see he’s looking at the lava lamps. When he looks at the stranger again, there’s a wide, goofy-- _attractive_ \-- grin on his face. “We have matching lava lamps.”

His voice sounds of wonder, and Sehun admits he did find it unusual to see two perfectly similar lava lamps. But this guy is downright _amazed_.

“Well.. Yeah,” Sehun says slowly. “But you are…?”

The stranger _blushes_ , brings his hands to his face. “Chanyeol,” he ekes out, bending down and rummaging through the bulky backpack Sehun’s only now noticing by _Chanyeol’s_ feet.

He stands back up straight and puts these huge, boxy glasses on, and he runs the fingers of one hand through his hair-- _still looking very very soft--_ and suddenly, Sehun recognizes him.

“From gen ed English,” they both say at the same time.

And it isn’t like he’s good at remembering classmates he’s only had _one class_ with, but Park Chanyeol  (if he’s gotten his surname right) was the kid that always sat at the desk behind his. Sehun’s also pretty sure he had _dark_ hair then, two semesters ago? One?

And Sehun also only remembers how jealous he was of Chanyeol’s voice when he’d overheard him sing in English from behind him.

They’d never actually had a real conversation before, so maybe that’s an excuse, that he couldn’t remember much of him besides that. Sehun’s back was always to him, so there’s that, too.

Sehun’s a chill guy. He should probably be freaking out like he’d initially been and kicking this Chanyeol guy out like he’d initially planned. But he looks distressed and adorable and it’s kinda hard to act mad at the sight of disheveled pastel hair and oversized glasses and a shirt that’s too big on him even though he’s obviously bigger than all of Sehun’s friends. _Friends_ include Jongin, however, and that reminds Sehun about that part in Chanyeol’s rushed explanation.

“You mentioned Jongin?”

Chanyeol snaps back into attention, although he looks like he’s trying very hard not to look at the lava lamps again. That’s a weird fascination. Maybe if by some magic, they end up being friends through this.. _very unusual_ incident, he’ll ask him about it.

He’ll also ask how the hell he had the time to plug in his own lava lamp and fix Sehun’s if he’d been as tired last night as he’d claimed to be.

“Jongin’s a close friend.”

Sehun’s never heard of them being close before. Otherwise, they’d already be friends, too, what with how small Sehun’s circle is and with how Jongin literally introduces him to anyone and everyone he’s friends with. _A rare case,_ perhaps. It isn’t like Jongin’s obligated to do that, anyway.

Still. He’s gonna have to talk to Jongin very seriously for giving his room away so easily to a stranger like that.

Sehun shakes his head free of this awkward irritation starting to build up inside him, standing up and walking towards Chanyeol. Chanyeol looks guilty again, shy and sheepish as he looks down to avoid Sehun’s scrutiny. “I’m really sorry.”

Sehun’s shoulders sag. Chanyeol looks too kind to get mad at. Besides, it probably really wasn’t his fault. It’s Jongin’s. And, besides, Sehun knows the feeling of exhaustion all too well. If Sehun had seen a bed as big as his, he would’ve been tempted, too. “It’s alright.”

Chanyeol bites his lip, nods reluctantly, as if it isn’t really alright, but isn’t that for Sehun to decide?

“Do you need a place to stay?”

Chanyeol toes at his bag, not answering, but it’s pretty obvious now. Jongin probably only had the intention to help a friend out-- even if he kinda put another friend in a somewhat compromising situation.

“You can stay here.” Chanyeol’s head snaps up so fast his glasses slip up and then down his nose. “If you want.” His cheeks look darker.

“You only have one bed,” he says, as if that’s the best reason to refuse  a one-time classmate and almost stranger’s offer of a space to live in for a while, and not that he’s kind of, sort of, imposed.

“It isn’t going to be a big deal if we become friends, right?” It isn’t that Sehun is suddenly attracted to this guy. It’s just that he wants to help him out. It has nothing to do with his loneliness at all and how this is practically the best timing for a roommate to appear. It kinda feels like his prayers were answered.

“Right…?” Chanyeol repeats after him, mouthing the word ‘friend’ silently to himself.

Something… Something about how Chanyeol’s been acting in general makes Sehun feel weird. It isn’t even fear of letting a possibly dangerous guy or someone who actually turns out to be an asshole stay in his room.

It isn’t a bad feeling, Sehun guesses, but where could this be coming from--

“I’m Sehun,” he suddenly blurts out, and Chanyeol is suddenly reaching out a hand to him.

They look into each other’s eyes properly for the first time this time-- and there’s that feeling-- weird, dream-like, nostalgic, distant. Like when he’d seen the lava lamps when he woke up.

Sehun feels dazed when they shake hands, and right when they lose contact, he hears a zap from behind him. The lava lamps have sizzled broken and have stopped working. Just like last night with his. And now, together with what Chanyeol said was his, too.

Sehun chances a look at Chanyeol’s expression as he stares at the lava lamps too, and his eyes are shining. It’s a look of _wonder_ and Sehun doesn’t understand.

This.. is already a very very _odd_ morning.

 

\--

 

(Sehun is seven when a new family moves into the abandoned house beside theirs. His mother tells him that they have nice new neighbors, but that they’d only be staying for a year; they just need a temporary place to stay for a while.

Sehun makes friends with the child of the man and woman he’s been told were planning to build a family restaurant sort of thing. That boy is someone he plays with every single day, and they are inseparable for all of eleven months, until his mother reminds him that their family has to be leaving soon 

Sehun cries his eyes out for two weeks and refuses to see his friend, and his mother is sad, telling him he just has to make the most of the two weeks left after the two he’s already wasted.

One day, the boy’s grandfather, along with him, of course, drags Sehun into their garden. It’s bare and doesn’t look fun and Sehun just wants to go somewhere else, like home, maybe, and not be reminded of losing his best friend so soon.

But from behind Grandfather’s back, he brings out two lava lamps, and Sehun’s eyes light up at the gifts. His best friend smiles beside him.

“This is magic,” Grandfather tells them. “This is our parting gift.” At the mention of parting, Sehun starts sniffling, trying to hold back his little boy tears. His best friend uses his chubby fingers to wipe at the tears that escape Sehun’s eyes anyway, but Sehun tries to bat them away.

“This is magic,” Grandfather tells them again, voice gentler in fear of making him cry more. “Both of you get one, so you’ll never forget each other.”

“But I’ll never forget my best friend,” Sehun immediately defends, grabbing those same chubby fingers and holding them in his own.

“Of course you won’t.” Grandfather smiles. “But one day, when you’re both grown up, these will bring you two back together.”

Sehun thinks it’s lame, but is overwhelmed by the idea of magic, and his eyes start to water again as he takes one of the lava lamps into his free hand, and his best friend takes the other. He doesn’t want their magic to bring them back together. He doesn’t want him to leave in the first place.

“This may grant your wishes,” Grandfather continues in a whisper, like he’s sharing a massive secret. “You’ll see your best friend again.”

Grandfather hugs the both of them right before Sehun is brought home.

The next day, the house next to theirs is empty again, like it was a year ago.)

 --

((This is a memory Sehun doesn’t remember at all.))

 --

Sehun doesn’t forget to sleep with his lava lamp turned on. Through the years, sometimes it runs on batteries, sometimes he keeps it plugged in.

Through the years, he forgets where it’s even from.

\--

 

So far there has absolutely been zero problem with Chanyeol being his roommate. He got settled in really quickly, just two big bags full of laundry and his university textbooks. And a _rilakkuma plushie._ Sehun adores the little guy. He sleeps on their bed at nights. 

There has absolutely been zero problem with Chanyeol’s behavior, too. They quickly become friends because Chanyeol is a cool guy who gives him space when he needs it, and doesn’t blast music out of the big speakers he’d lugged into the room just three days ago-- he puts on headphones so he can study with music while Sehun studies silently the way he prefers. Chanyeol is a very considerate roommate.

There has absolutely been zero problem with how they’re going to feed themselves, too. For two weeks there’s suddenly this unspoken agreement that they’d take turns buying dinner for the two of them every night. Thankfully lunch isn’t a problem at all because they’re always out for classes from morning to at least four or five in the afternoon, but dinner is a whole problem they’ve quietly taken upon their hands to take care of. Cheap takeout is totally fine, as long as they don’t have the same thing for consecutive nights.

There has absolutely been zero problem with them sharing a bed, too. Sehun’s noticed the first time he’s even seen Chanyeol that he was a big man, much like himself, quite honestly, but because he’s lucky to have a really big bed, there _is_ enough room for both their bodies, and little _baby rila_ in between them, too. Chanyeol doesn’t invade his space, doesn’t have to.

Where there are problems, now, is entirely on Sehun alone, because sometimes he catches himself thinking things that involve one, wanting to know what kind of music Chanyeol likes, and how nice it would be if they could share earphones during breaks from studying; two, wanting to _take Chanyeol out_ for dinner instead of eating in, and how nice it would be if they could eat at nice places and sit in front of each other, instead of eating out of takeout containers at opposite sides of the room; and three, wanting to get closer to Chanyeol when they sleep, and how nice it would be to feel Chanyeol spooning him again, like he woke up to him doing that first morning, or how nice it would be to spoon Chanyeol himself.

These are thoughts that have been occurring to him far too frequently over just two weeks. These are thoughts Sehun can’t help but have. He isn’t even ready to tell Jongin he’s developing some stupid crush on Chanyeol.

They’re fast friends, but how quickly Sehun is just falling for his nice smile and cute ears and deep voice and really easy-going yet mature personality and _him in general_ makes Sehun think that maybe he’s just been lonely for far too long that he’d jump at anyone who even _slightly_ shows interest in him. But Sehun isn’t that type of person.

Jongin had confirmed that Chanyeol _is_ indeed a close friend of his, and admitted to not wanting to introduce him to Sehun for certain reasons. Jongin wasn’t really clear about it, but he did have this small smile on his lips, like he was trying to hide something he’s already hinted at. Jongin is obnoxious but is trustworthy when it comes to keeping secrets-- and if Chanyeol has entrusted one of his to Jongin and Jongin had accidentally mentioned a passing _Chanyeol likes you_ while explaining why he’d recommended Sehun’s room for a homeless Chanyeol, his laughing it off is his attempt to tell Sehun to not bring it up anymore.

Sehun wants to tell Jongin, just for the hell of it, that his crush on Chanyeol keeps growing too fast in too little time, and he thinks it would have, whether Jongin had accidentally let the aforementioned piece of information slip or not.

Jongin isn’t always right anyway. Sehun wishes he is, this time, though.

Sehun isn’t the most diligent student.

This is why he’s skipped all his classes today to work on a paper that was given the first week of university and is due tomorrow. Isn’t university all about missing other classes to work on one, anyway?

He prides himself in being a good crammer anyway, because he just needs to be holed up on his desk for a few hours and he’ll get it done for sure-- so what if it’s past eight in the evening? He’s informed his friends anyway so they don’t end up looking for him. Also, they’re the ones who are going to help him with the things he’s missed today.

Sehun saves his paper into his USB to have printed first thing tomorrow morning, and it is only when he’s shutting his laptop down that he realizes Chanyeol hasn’t arrived yet and-- _crap, it’s his turn to get them dinner._

Sehun jumps up from his seat and grabs his wallet. He can decide what to get on the way there, but he has to go now before Chanyeol gets here. He doesn’t even consider the fact that Chanyeol could very well have already had his dinner outside.

Sehun opens the door only to be met with Chanyeol holding a paper bag of what is probably dumplings and noodles from the Chinese place just outside the campus. Chanyeol is holding the food in one hand and the key to their room in the other, already poised to open it before Sehun had gotten to it.

“Have you had dinner, Sehunnie?”

Sehun opens the door wider for Chanyeol to come in, and he sets the food on their bed. Chanyeol starts taking the food out, mumbling something about not buying drinks because there was water here anyway, about trying out this new flavor of noodles but only buying it for himself in case it didn’t taste nice and Sehun would prefer the normal flavor, about how they should really change the stryo containers to paper ones. Overall he’s spoken so much in under thirty seconds and Sehun’s mind is blank. “But it’s my turn to buy dinner.”

Chanyeol’s hands freeze where he’s taking out disposable chopsticks. He licks his lips, tears his eyes away from the food and looks up at Sehun. “You were busy.”

Sehun doesn’t know how Chanyeol knows he’s been busy. He isn’t one of the people Sehun texted about skipping classes at all today. He also hasn’t been here the entire day. “I was,” he confirms, for the lack of anything else to say.

“You must be really hungry, though,” Chanyeol mumbles again, his eyebrows furrowing as he stretches his arm to offer the chopsticks he’s just separated for Sehun to take. “Have you even eaten anything?”

No, Sehun _hasn’t_ had anything besides the cheese puffs he finished before he even got to one third of his paper. “Of course I have,” he huffs, sitting down in front of the now ready containers of food. They’ve never eaten on the bed-- and it probably isn’t a good practice to start-- but Sehun’s stomach is grumbling (and there are butterflies in there, too, fluttering over Chanyeol’s concern), so he crosses his legs. Chanyeol mimics his position, then they start eating.

Sehun stays quiet as he eats, because he’s focusing on filling his stomach for the most part, but also because he’s too shy to say thank you at this moment.

“Did you at least finish your paper?”

“Oh.” Sehun swallows some of his food, wipes at his mouth, smiles proudly. “I did. I’ll print it tomorrow before class.”

Chanyeol returns his proud smile. “That’s nice. You worked hard.”

Sehun fucking _crammed._ He nods instead of answering, and they both finish up their meals quickly.

Chanyeol is about to gather their mess to throw out but Sehun slaps his hands away and grabs the emptied containers himself. “At least let me clean up.” Sehun doesn’t really act cute on purpose, but for that moment maybe he tries, and he pouts as he stuffs the stryo into the paperbag they came in. Chanyeol’s hands shake _just that tiny bit_ when Sehun takes his chopsticks from him, and he watches silently as Sehun gets up and puts it into the trashcan by their door.

It’s half an hour past nine and his first class is eight in the morning tomorrow. He’s burnt out from a whole day of thinking and writing and he really should sleep.

“Time to sleep?” Chanyeol smiles at him when he yawns.

“Yeah,” Sehun answers, already making to lie down on his side of the bed.

“I’ll shower first, then I’ll sleep. You can go first.”

Sehun doesn’t need Chanyeol’s permission to sleep. Maybe Chanyeol felt the need to say that because they’ve been sleeping at the same time for the past nights. It’s cute.

Sehun actually hasn’t showered today at all and the clothes he woke up in are the same clothes he’s still wearing, and he has half a mind to stay up and wait until Chanyeol finishes taking a shower to take one of his own, because he doesn’t want Chanyeol to sleep beside him when he probably doesn’t smell nice and fresh. But Chanyeol likes to take long showers and Sehun is too sleepy to wait.

Hopefully, there will be enough space between them so Chanyeol doesn’t have his sleep disrupted by his smell. Sehun doesn’t smell that bad anyway, the room’s been cool today and he barely even sweats when he’s writing. Chanyeol will let him live. Chanyeol _should_ let him live.

The lava lamps on his side table aren’t turned on. Sehun plugs them both in. His phone doesn’t need to charge urgently.

He falls asleep to the sight of pretty colors swirling slowly and the sound of running water from the bathroom.

 

\--

 

It’s a Friday night and Chanyeol’s just texted Sehun about not having dinner with him at their dorm, something about a classmate’s birthday treat and stuff. Sehun isn't going to admit it makes him a little sad. They've literally eaten together every single night since they started, that one time Chanyeol bought food because he was too busy with his paper to even bother last week only one of those nights, and he thinks about what people say about how it literally takes only around thirty days to make something a habit.

Chanyeol is becoming a habit now. It's a disconcerting thought.

At seven in the evening Sehun decides not to go straight home like he usually would, going to a bubble tea cafe just a few blocks from university. He used to frequent this place a lot, with his friends, too. But with all of them getting into committed relationships, they can't go with him much anymore, and with himself crushing on his roommate, he'd rather have food with him at home--

 _Home_ is an odd word to call the place he shares with Chanyeol. It isn't even assigned to Chanyeol's name at all. The dorm masters probably don't even know there's a solo room that's being occupied by two guys for about a month now.

Sehun’s phone buzzes right when he enters the shop, and he orders his drink first before checking it.

[19:11] From: Chanyeol

Make sure you eat something good tonight!!!

The butterflies in his stomach flutter. Traitors.

For an unjustified reason, guilt makes its way to his chest. The girl behind the counter hands him his fixed drink and he pays. The cute face on the bubbles printed on the cup stares at him.

[19:17] To: Chanyeol

I’m getting bubble tea.

[19:17] From: Chanyeol

That isn’t dinner!!!!!! >,<

Sehun fights back a smile. He’ll get a good sandwich on the way home, probably.

[19:18] From: Chanyeol

Get me one, too? ^3^

Sehun doesn’t even think twice about ordering another cup. He doesn’t reply.

He does end up getting Subway before he goes back to the dorms. Chanyeol is already there by the time he gets back.

“Where’s mine where’s mine where’s mine where’s mine--” Chanyeol is shooting up from the bed and making grabby hands at the plastic bag Sehun is holding.

Sehun holds the bag back and away from Chanyeol. “I didn’t get you one.”

Chanyeol _pouts_. He sits cross legged on Sehun’s side of the bed and crosses his arms, too. “You can’t sit here.” It’s childish and cute.

Sehun kicks his shoes off, lies down on Chanyeol’s side, kicks at Chanyeol’s leg with a socked foot. “Move it.” It isn’t the easiest task to punch his straw through the plastic seal of his bubble tea cup in this position, but Chanyeol bends, reaches over and does it for him.

Chanyeol is a little close, his eyes a little too pretty. The lava lamps on Sehun’s bedside table are glowing behind him. They serve just that little bit distraction as Chanyeol takes a long sip.

He sits up straight after, all smug and satisfied, his cheeks full before he gulps and smiles as he chews on tapioca pearls.

Sehun rolls his eyes and just shoves the cup against Chanyeol’s side, taking out the other cup and holding it out for Chanyeol to poke the straw through again. Chanyeol’s eyes light up and he takes an even longer, more indulgent sip out of the cup that is now rightfully his.

With a cup each in hand, they stay quiet for just a little while before Sehun sits up and takes his sandwich out.

“How was your day?”

Sehun doesn’t remember much of his day, now. “It was okay.” He takes a bite, then a sip, then a bite again. Chanyeol’s just watching him. “How was yours?”

Chanyeol puts his cup down, squeezes between his legs so it doesn’t fall over, grins at him, takes a deep breath. He starts telling Sehun about his friend’s puppy that she brought for the birthday dinner. His gestures are all over the place and he’s so excited about how he took his shoe off and the puppy chased his foot under the table and his eyes crinkle in laughter when he talks about another friend who spilled his drink all over himself when Chanyeol accidentally nudged their leg instead of the puppy and he’s just _rambling_.

Sehun could listen to him talk like this forever.

 

\--

 

It’s the weekend before his first midterm exam, and Sehun.. _Really_ isn’t a diligent student. He’s held off studying for the past few weeks knowing fully well there were a lot of presentations and readings to go through, yet here he is. He swears he _is_ a good crammer, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t get tired easily or that he’s actually going to score high on his test through these studying methods. All he wants is to pass, anyway.

Chanyeol’s also been studying the entire day with him. Not really _with_ him as in he’d actually grown the balls to ask if Chanyeol wants to study together, but with him as in they’re sharing the room. Which is normal, because they’re roommates. Sehun stays at the desk and Chanyeol studies with all his notes around him on the bed.

Chanyeol’s told him about not liking the library, like Sehun doesn’t, and that he prefers studying with music on, hence his headphones blasting some music that’s actually too loud that Sehun hears muffled instruments off of it. It’s an honest cause of concern for Sehun-- aren’t Chanyeol’s ears going to get damaged that way? Chanyeol had only laughed it off the one time Sehun brought it up. Everyone’s got their own weird study habits, he guesses. Anything to pass, right?

Anything to pass involves ongoing hours without breaks, for Sehun. A little unhealthy, but at least gets shit done. Neither Kyungsoo nor Jongin would ever survive like this.

Chanyeol’s and his phones alarm at three in the afternoon, like they set it to together, but Sehun has one more page to go. He throws his phone to the bed and hunches over the desk and rushes through this last page. Behind him, both alarms are turned off anyway.

When he’s done, he slams his highlighter down as he straightens up, only for the back of his head to hit Chanyeol right in his torso. Chanyeol squeaks.

Sehun whips around, apologizes, half wondering what the hell Chanyeol was doing standing right behind him, half flustered from how close he’d been. “Sorry!”

Chanyeol waves him off, suggests they go over to Jongin’s to bug them for snacks because apparently Kyungsoo’s filled the fridge up with pudding cups and banana milk and chocolate candies. Sehun is on board with this plan immediately.

Before they go out, he stands in front of his cork board. There are post-its with reminders and song lyrics and pictures of his dog at his family home and it’s a mess, but at the corner his to-study list is getting shorter as he crosses things out one by one and he feels a little proud of himself for that, at least.

Right as he’s about to take a post-it off, he feels warmth behind himself, Chanyeol’s firm chest against his back as he hooks his chin over Sehun’s shoulder. “You’re done with that?”

Sehun doesn’t move. This is.. _Such a comfortable position_. He feels his tiredness seeping out of his body in waves.

“How do you always work so hard,” Chanyeol says in wonder, one hand rubbing at the small of his back and the other on top of Sehun’s head. He pats lightly there. “You deserve snacks!”

Sehun almost whines when Chanyeol steps away from him, almost feels like a puppy in need of snacks _and_ cuddles. Which doesn’t make sense because if either of them are going to be the puppy, it would be Chanyeol.

He shouldn’t be thinking about puppies and Chanyeol anyway.

“Let’s go out!”

 _Let’s_ , Sehun suddenly aches to say, as in go out on a date and not just get out of this room. “Let’s,” he says anyway.

Sehun has one foot out the door when Chanyeol stops walking, his back bumping into Sehun’s front, like he’s forgotten something urgent, like his keys or his wallet or his phone or something. He forces himself between Sehun and the doorframe and runs over to Sehun’s bedside table to unplug their lava lamps.

Odd, Sehun didn’t even notice they were on.

Then he’s skipping towards him and pushing him out of their dorm room. “I hope they got the vanilla flavored pudding--”

 

\--

 

Kyungsoo and Jongin are bad friends who don’t let Chanyeol and Sehun go back to their own room even if they’ve insisted they still had work to do, exams to study for. They’re able to force them down on the floor and watch Star Wars until the clock strikes eleven at night.

In reality, Chanyeol and Sehun are very thankful for the distraction, and the reprieve, and the rest that they get spending time with friends instead of being holed up in their room studying.

Kyungsoo and Jongin are also bad friends for having beer at their room and making Chanyeol and Sehun drink some before sending them home close to midnight.

Sehun isn’t drunk, not really, not at all, but when Chanyeol swings a shoulder over his arm and keeps him close against his side as if he’s afraid Sehun would fall, he doesn’t fight it. He lets himself be held like this.

It’s late and he’s stressed and he’s tired and he’s.. _Lonely_ all over again watching Kyungsoo play with Jongin’s hair as he laid his head on his lap.

The rational part of his brain tells him it’s not healthy for him to get jealous over his friends’ cute lovey-dovey acts, and the rational part of his brain also knows that he’s genuinely happy for them, has always been.

The irrational part of his brain, though, just tells him to cling onto Chanyeol when they get back to their room and they don’t even bother to change out of their clothes as Chanyeol drops him to the bed, and promptly lets himself fall beside Sehun.

Sehun doesn’t want to talk, doesn’t want to say good night. Chanyeol is turning his and Sehun’s lava lamps on, but turns the normal, regular, bedside table lamp on, too. Both the soft colors and the harsh light hit his face, and his cheeks still have dark spots and his eyes still have bags under them and his lips are still dry-- Sehun likes him _so much._

Sehun stays still in his position, on his side facing Chanyeol, but watching him does too many things to his chest and he probably isn’t in his best state of mind right now. He closes his eyes, lets out a breath, whispers good night, not knowing if it’s to Chanyeol or to himself.

There are fingers running through his hair, suddenly, soft and gentle carding that soothes him. How Chanyeol knows Sehun loves attention like this is beyond him, but he doesn’t move away, doesn’t reject the touch. He keeps his eyes closed, afraid opening them would show how heavy he’s feeling, afraid that he might startle Chanyeol enough to draw back.

Chanyeol _fortunately_ doesn’t stop, even when Sehun decides to finally look at him. He can’t open his eyes fully anymore, his eyelids are heavy and his mind is honestly a little hazy, but he’s wishing that seeing Chanyeol smiling down at him with soft eyes isn’t just a dream.

He’s wishing Chanyeol’s humming isn’t just a dream. He’s wishing Chanyeol cooing when Sehun scoots closer to press himself against him isn’t just a dream. He’s wishing Chanyeol resting his chin on the top of his head isn’t a dream. He’s wishing--

There’s a loud zap coming from behind Chanyeol’s head and his body jerks against Sehun and Sehun startles, haze clearing as Chanyeol laughs, bringing a hand to his chest and saying, “That scared me, what the fuck…”

He’s so cute. Sehun really wants to--

“Does that happen a lot to your lava lamp,” he hears Chanyeol wonder out loud, but Sehun doesn’t look at him, doesn’t respond, stares up at the darkness of their ceiling and not moving as Chanyeol’s weight shifts on the mattress, leaning over the side of their bed to unplug both lava lamps in the end. “It only started happening to mine when I got here.”

Sehun wants to care but his mind is a mess and he just wants to _sleep this off_.

“I’m thinking maybe it’s the socket here, like, you know how those voltage thingies work?”

Sehun grunts noncommittally, keeps quiet.

“We should take care of these more,” Chanyeol says, voice full of determination. Sehun is dozing off. “Mine was a gift from my grandfather. I’m sure you treasure yours very much, too.”

Sehun doesn’t even remember where he got that lava lamp form. His mother? His uncle? He doesn’t catch much of what Chanyeol is saying anymore.

“-- we match, too. I really like you--”

 

\--

 

 _Faux-cuddling with Chanyeol last night was probably just a dream--_ is the first thing he says to himself the moment he’s awake enough to actually think. He _has_ had many dreams like that before.

There’s a warmth pressed against his back, and arms around his waist. Maybe he’s still asleep after all, and this is just another one of those dreams.

The man-- it’s Chanyeol this time, he’s sure; it’s a broad and firm chest, and it isn’t like Chanyeol hasn’t been playing the role of his cuddle companion in his dreams since he moved in-- holds him tighter in his arms in response.

He can’t usually control what he does in dreams like this one, even if it is Chanyeol, so right when he’s decided to turn around to hug dream Chanyeol back, he freezes.

Because it isn’t a dream.

Silently, he mourns the loss of that feeling of warmth and security that he’d gotten. He’s gonna have to pry himself off of Chanyeol, and he’s gonna have to do it fast.

He carefully turns around in Chanyeol’s arms, coming face to face with someone even his sleep-weighed mind recognizes as his.. His _what?_

He’s still the same. _Not a pretty sleeper._ Chanyeol’s mouth is slightly open, drool escaping his lips and pooling onto a patch on Sehun’s pillow. He fights back an unnecessary smile. Chanyeol’s eyes are also twitchy and not fully-closed..? Sehun wonders if he can see anything like that asleep. His hair is a bit more faded than it is pastel rainbow, though, and it doesn’t look very soft anymore, and his breath smells bad-- neither of them brushed their teeth and instead went straight to bed last night, though, so maybe it’s forgivable. His skin doesn’t have imprints of sheets on the cheek that isn’t pressed into the pillow’s fabric--

His eyes are open now. Chanyeol’s eyes are open now and stare back at Sehun’s. They’re wet from sleep and wide in surprise, and even though Sehun’s the one who practically owns the bed that Chanyeol has been sleeping on for the past months, there’s an embarrassment he can’t fight off, feeling like he’s just got caught.

Chanyeol’s eyes soften though, considerably, and if he’d stiffened up when he woke up to Sehun, his body sags now and he.. _Smiles_. “Good morning, Sehunnie.”

Sehun wants to wake up to Chanyeol like this every morning.

His mind flashes back to all the times he’s woken up before Chanyeol and he was literally so far he was almost falling off of his side of the bed. But he remembers all the times, too, when he’d have an arm over Sehun’s waist like it wasn’t a big deal.

It shouldn’t be a big deal.

Sehun wants it to be a big deal.

Chanyeol’s warmth vanishes as he rolls onto his back and yawns, covering his mouth and laughing to himself when he accidentally hits his hand on the side table when he stretched.

Sehun has no idea what time of the day it is, but the sunlight hurts his eyes and the sight of Chanyeol hurts his heart and whatever time it is, it’s probably too early to be this dramatic anyway.

He uses his morning breath as an excuse when Chanyeol tilts his head up at him curiously when Sehun gets up.

It’s been months and his crush on Chanyeol isn’t going away and he doesn’t even know what it is about these days that just makes it feel too much for his chest to take.

He locks himself up in their bathroom and stares at himself in the mirror. Chanyeol could be interested, Jongin told him so. Jongin isn’t always right, but Sehun _did_ wish he was this time. Sehun’s wishes have been coming true lately, right?

Chanyeol is one of his best wishes come true.

Tacky, cheesy, doesn’t make sense. Magic doesn’t exist.

He brushes his teeth, splashes his face with water, sighs. When he comes out, Chanyeol is seated upright, as if he’d been waiting for Sehun to come out, but he’s lost his focus and is just staring blankly at the lava lamps again.

His fascination with them makes Sehun as curious as it makes him soft. At the back of his mind, he remembers thinking that very first morning, that if by some magic they’d end up friends, he’d ask about it. But it doesn’t feel right to ask. Nothing really feels right most times when it comes to Sehun’s feelings.

Chanyeol turns to him and blinks, his smile small. He gets up and rushes over to the bathroom, not bothering to close the door and brushing his teeth quickly. Even when he has his mouth open in weird angles and foam all coating his lips, he still looks attractive.

Chanyeol runs out of the bathroom and Sehun doesn’t know Chanyeol has _tackled_ him into a hug until his back hits the softness of the mattress and bounces a little.

He’s being held too tight and his blood is rushing to his head at this position and Sehun is too shocked to really comprehend what even is going on, but the weight of Chanyeol on top of him and the warmth of being in Chanyeol’s arms is everything to him.

“W-what,” he chokes, not even able to hug Chanyeol back. “What are you doing?”

Chanyeol shrugs as best he can, a smile in his voice when he replies, “Hugging you.” He pulls himself up a little just enough so he can look down at Sehun’s face. “I even brushed my teeth first so you wouldn’t push me away.”

“I’ve never pushed you away,” Sehun counters, not even thinking anymore.

Chanyeol’s eyes widen, his face freezes, then he melts, lowering himself down and pressing his cheek against Sehun’s shoulder. “You’re right,” is his muffled answer.

Sehun doesn’t know what this is for, his head feels light, he catches the lava lamps turned on in the corner of his eye, and Chanyeol just lies on top of him like he isn’t a man as big as Sehun.

“What’s this about?”

He _feels_ Chanyeol’s hesitation. Eventually, though, he’s vague with his answer. “I just realized something really big, and I’m waiting for you to realize it, too.”

_If you’ve just realized I have the biggest crush on you, then there isn’t a need for me to realize that, too--_

“I’m.. I’m not wrong, I can feel it,” Chanyeol whispers, and it’s earnest, like Chanyeol always is. Sincere, like he always is. “I’m waiting for you to feel it, too.”

Whatever it is, Sehun wants to feel nervous about it, anxious, but instead, like this, all he feels is warmth and security. Like when he woke up in a then-stranger’s arms all those months ago, and woke up to Chanyeol just coming into his life unannounced and appearing like he’s magic.. Or something..

_Or something--_

“Sehun, do you believe in magic?”

“I believe in _you_.”

Tacky, cheesy, doesn’t make sense. Sehun doesn’t make sense. He makes to push Chanyeol off but he lifts himself up and off and rolls over, and by some magic-- _he’s got to stop using this word_ \-- Chanyeol is able to pull Sehun on top of him instead.

With their positions reversed like this, Sehun stares down at Chanyeol who’s eyes aren’t shy, look straight into Sehun’s as if maybe he could make Sehun understand this whole thing that way, like maybe he could tell Sehun what this apparently _big realization_ is that way, without the need for words. It doesn’t work.

What Chanyeol makes Sehun do with his staring, with his eyes, with his _everything_ , however, is --

“I like you a lot.”

Chanyeol looks breathless under him. He’s pretty.

“I really, really like you a lot.”

Sehun watches Chanyeol’s lips mouth _magic_. Can Chanyeol feel his heart beating too fast with their chests pressed together like this?

“You’re--” Chanyeol swallows. “You’re not just saying this because of the magic right?”

“ _What_?”

Sehun doubts any of this _magic nonsense_ even has anything to do with how Sehun feels. This is all Chanyeol.

“Because I like you, too, but if this is only because of the magic working then I’d be sad.”

Sehun doesn’t really know what Chanyeol is talking about.

Chanyeol cranes his neck to leave the smallest kiss to the corner of Sehun’s lips, and in the end, Sehun thinks he doesn’t _need_ to understand. For now.

 

\--

 

_“Sehun, do you believe in magic?”_

_Sehun doubts any of this magic nonsense even has anything to do with how Sehun feels._

 

 --

 

_(“This is magic. Both of you get one, so you’ll never forget each other.”_

_“But I’ll never forget my best friend!”_

_“Of course you won’t. But one day, when you’re both grown up, these will bring you two back together.”)_

_(This is a memory Sehun doesn’t remember at all.)_

 

 --

_Sehun’s wishes have been coming true lately._

_Chanyeol is one of his best wishes come true._

 

 --

 

_(“This may grant your wishes,” Grandfather continues. “You’ll see your best friend again.”)_

_(This is a memory Sehun doesn’t remember at all.)_

 

\--

 

_It freaks him out that he recognizes the view, in a weird, dream-like, nostalgic, distant type of way._

 

 --

_“I just realized something really big, and I’m waiting for you to realize it, too.”_

 --

No way.

No _fucking_ way.

“Good morning, Sehunnie.”

 _“Yeol-ah?”_ That’s a name Sehun hasn’t used in _years_. He finally remembers, he finally realizes, he finally--

Chanyeol’s sleepy, minty smile is the most beautiful thing on earth.

“What the fuck are the actual chances-- how on earth-- how long have you _known--_ ”

Sehun is stunned silent but Chanyeol is kissing him now, so that’s okay.

Maybe magic actually _does_ exist.

(Or it really _is_ just Chanyeol.)


End file.
